U15 v Carlton le Willows

Date: Tuesday 2nd March

Venue: Away, depart 1pm

Team:

With Nottingham traffic always being a worry, the Repton coach set off with good time to spare to cross the county and reach our away fixture at Carlton-le-Willows. With recent rains leaving pitches springy but a fine if somewhat cool day, the scene was set for a great game. Unfortunately, our intended kick off was delayed by 30 minutes which did add pressure to the starting plays as players had lost the initial spark from the warm ups intended to prepare for a match starting much earlier.

In the opening 10 minutes of play, the honours were evenly shared with both teams contesting hard for the ball and it became clear that we would probably again be enjoying a forwards dominated performance. True to form then, Bacon ploughed through the middle of a group of defenders to put our first 5 points on the scoreboard, although with gusting winds and an exposed pitch it proved difficult to add the 2 from the conversion. Just a few short minutes later though, Carlton replied in turn with their own break through out back line to leave us even-stevens at 5 apiece.

The next 15 minutes of play saw a more disciplined Repton hold their defensive lines well, although individual commitment to tackles was still an area to be worked on. Hard work at the ruck and good all round pressure paid off though as Bacon again took the ball over the line to regain the lead. Half time saw some encouraging feedback passed on, and a game plan to keep the aggressive forwards dominated action up the middle as a major feature of our attack.

With only 5 minutes on the clock in the second half, Bacon secured his hatrick try in magnificent style but was again denied in the kicking. Repton soon suffered for a lack of focus though, as again the Carlton team gave their reply - this time just 90 seconds later - a lesson to be learned(!)

With a good telling off under the posts for a lack of discipline closing the margin, the Repton team pulled together and made superb efforts to disrupt and make chances in the Carlton 22. The Carlton defence stood up well, but persistence was the name of the game and eventually the hard work was rewarded with a great smash through by Huggins. This time, Bacon's boot hit the sweet spot and a converted try left us 22 - 10 ahead.

Just at the point when the coaching staff thought our boys had got it together again though, what was to happen next? - Yes, you guessed it, this time with less than a minute after the restart, Repton lost a little focus, gave away an unnecessary penalty and were left standing upright watching the Carlton 2nd row run across the line to return the favour. With only a 7 point margin holding us up, more quick stiff words were shared with the boys and thankfully this time everyone listened well. The rallying cries of the Repton team made Millwall fans sound like a choir boy convention on holiday.

Now was the turn of the backs to join the action though, and after some superbly executed support runs and most importantly many well sold dummies, Tom Sharpe got his name on the scoreboard with a beautifully performed run which quite literally carved through the opposition - dummying, stepping and simply outpacing half the Carlton team. With just a couple of minutes to play from the restart our win looked secure but perhaps not to be extended. No one told Sharpe, Kyriakidis or Prutton though as they gave superb close support to one another on the left wing to secure yet another (and final) Repton Try.

Final score line Repton 32 - Carlton-le-Willows 15.

As the referee surmised at the end of the match, this was a battle between brute strength and finesse as the Carlton boys were certainly a tough, committed and hard hitting bunch. The shape of the Repton play, organisation in the forwards and backs both in attack and defence is really starting to shine through though and this was (another) well deserved win. Great to see players taking their responsibilities to one another seriously too and all conducted their games very professionally. The last word must go to Bacon though not only an excellent individual effort in his hatrick of tries, but also a great game as Captain in his example set for work rate, discipline and positive outlook!

JSM